Hope For Today

Dear Friends, (Today’s blog is based on a message I preached on Sunday 26 th February, if you are interested in listening to the whole message then please click on the following link: http://www.gatewaychristianchurch.org.uk/podcasts.htm During the last few months of 2016 and into this new year I’d been feeling really overwhelmed. I was struggling. The thought of having to do anything – whether at home or with church - was just too much. I felt like I was drowning under the too heavy weight I was trying to carry. I felt inundated with “stuff” and unable to cope. I felt much like that camel in the story “The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back”. That poor camel was overloaded with straw which his owner had placed on him. But, the owner, not satisfied, decided to add one last piece of straw. It was just too much for the camel and he collapsed with a broken back. Of course, it wasn’t just one piece of straw that broke the camel’s back, but that last piec...

Dear Friends, When you believe God has placed a desire in your heart or given you a dream, it can be really hard to wait patiently for his timing.  Then, when you sense that he is telling you now you can go ahead, it can be easy to get carried away with it.  At least, I can find that so and when God says "Yes" I just want to get on with it straight away so that it happens tomorrow at the earliest, not months ahead!  Jason has been with me on this journey and I was talking with him recently about what I felt God was telling me was the next stage.  Before I had got very far, he said one sentence which I interpreted as meaning that he didn't think now was the right time, and I thought he was being negative and unsupportive.  It's amazing how quickly your brain starts to process your thoughts, sift through them all and come up with a response almost before the sentence is out of the other person's mouth.  I was just about to either ...

Dear Friends, One evening last Summer my friend and I organised a women's evening, with the aim of strengthening and encouraging women in their friendships with other women.  As well as some fun activities we also shared a message on the qualities to look for in a friend. Each of us, whoever we are, whatever our characters or personalities, need good friends in our lives and there is something very special about same sex friendships.  We have examples of these in the Bible, such as David and Jonathan, and Ruth and Naomi. Using the acronym F.R.I.E.N.D.S and examples from the life of Ruth and Naomi I want to share with you what makes a good friend and how we can be a good friend too. F UN Laughter is important in life and we all need friends we can enjoy being with and have fun together.  " A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance."  Ecclesiastes 3:4 (NLT) Ruth and Naomi had some enjoyable times, times when they cou...